Military Flight Aptitude Test: Block Counting

The Air Force Officer Qualifying Test (AFOQT) features block-counting questions that test your ability to quickly analyze and understand a three-dimensional stack of blocks and then determine either how many blocks make up the stack or how many blocks touch a given block. The goal is to test your ability to determine spatial relations.

Block counting is a fast-paced test with only 3 minutes to complete 20 questions. The goal is to quickly and accurately determine how many blocks are touching the identified section. Keep in mind that all blocks are assumed to be the same size and shape, and even if just a corner touches the identified block, it counts.

For the following practice questions, determine how many blocks are touching the specified block. Note that on the AFOQT, each diagram is the basis for several questions; the format is simplified here to help you get used to it.

The following practice questions test your ability to determine how many blocks make up the diagram. This type of question will be included in the near future, so here are a couple of examples here to help keep you ahead of the curve. The question and answer choices are formatted similarly to the other block-counting questions.

How many blocks are in this figure?

(A) 56

(B) 64

(C) 62

(D) 60

(E) 58

The answer is 64 – 4, or 60 blocks, Choice (D). You find the answer by counting the total number of blocks on one side and multiplying that by the number of blocks deep to get a total.

Then subtract the number of blocks that are missing (indicated by the shaded portion on top). 16 blocks on one side times 4 blocks deep equals a total of 64 blocks. Four blocks are missing (1 block deep x 4 total blocks = 4 blocks).

How many blocks are in this figure?

(A) 16

(B) 14

(C) 15

(D) 20

(E) 88

The answer is 15 blocks, Choice (C). Nine blocks are on the bottom, five blocks are on the second tier, and one block is on top.